Race Results Presented by Fastrack Riders: 
Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
Imola, Italy
May 14, 2017
Race Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale R), 18 laps, Total Race Time 32:12.361, Best Lap Time 1:46.720
2. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), -3.739 seconds, 1:46.880
3. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), -4.342, 1:47.226
4. Xavi Fores, Spain (Duc Panigale R), -14.441, 1:47.727
5. Marco Melandri, Italy (Duc Panigale R), -14.596, 1:47.574
6. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), -32.214, 1:48.146
7. Eugene Laverty, UK (Apr RSV4 RF), -33.919, 1:48.558
8. Jordi Torres, Spain (BMW S1000RR), -35.932, 1:48.528
9. Michael Van Der Mark, Netherlands (Yam YZF-R1), -36.099, 1:48.753
10. Leandro Mercado, Argentina (Apr RSV4 RF), -37.621, 1:48.822
11. Roman Ramos, Spain (Kaw ZX-10R), -40.395, 1:48.904
12. Nicky Hayden, USA (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -43.738, 1:48.918
13. Lorenzo Savadori, Italy (Apr RSV4 RF), -48.589, 1:49.134
14. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), -54.649, 1:49.630
15. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland (Kaw ZX-10RR), -54.916, ran off track, 1:49.278
16. Raffaele De Rosa, Italy (BMW S1000RR), -56.434, 1:49.225
17. Ondrej Jezek, Czech Republic (Kaw ZX-10RR), -75.311, 1:49.905
18. Riccardo Russo, Italy (Yam YZF-R1), -9 laps, DNF, retired, 1:50.019
19. Leon Camier, UK (MV Agusta F4 RC), -16 laps, DNF, crash, 1:47.650
20. Alex De Angelis, San Marino (Kaw ZX-10R), -16 laps, DNF, crash, 1:49.316
21. Ayrton Badovini, Italy (Kaw ZX-10RR), -18 laps, DNF, crash, no lap time recorded
World Championship Point Standings (after 10 of 26 races):
1. Rea, 235 points
2. Davies, 161
3. Sykes, 160
4. Melandri, 124
5. Lowes, 94
6. Fores, 84
7. Van Der Mark, 78
8. Torres, 65
9. Camier, 64
10. Laverty, 55
11. Ramos, 44
12. Bradl, 43
13. Hayden, 40
14. Mercado, 34
15. Savadori, 28
16. Krummenacher, 25
17. De Angelis, 23
18. Markus Reiterberger, 19
19. De Rosa, 5
20. TIE, Russo/Josh Brookes/Julian Simon/Badovini, 4
24. Jezek, 3
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More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Sunday Podium Finishes For KRT Riders At Imola
After a red flag halted the second WorldSBK race at Imola the 18-lap restart saw KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes finish second and third respectively. In the championship standings Jonathan increased his championship advantage to 74 points, with Tom now in third place and 75 points from the lead.
On a day laden with delays and false starts in the two main championship classes at the 4.936km Imola circuit the second WorldSBK race of the weekend got underway with Sykes on pole position and Rea in eighth place – due to the rules that govern the second race grid places in 2017.
Despite the disadvantage of starting from the third row today, after finishing race one in second place on Saturday, Rea was again second, ending up 3.739 seconds from double race winner Chaz Davies.
Sykes made the absolute best of his front row position, running clear for the first six laps until Davies passed him after Tom was forced to work hard at reducing the effects of less than optimal set-up in some corners.
As the race wore on Jonathan also passed Tom, on lap 12, and the two KRT riders remained relatively close together until the chequered flag. Sykes was 4.342 seconds behind the win on race two, taking his first podium of the weekend.
In the overall standings, after five rounds and ten races, Rea has 235 points, Davies 161 and Sykes 160.
Home ground for both Tom and Jonathan beckons next for the KRT team, in the shape of Donington Park. Races will be featured on both Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th May.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “It was difficult at times today especially because I made a mistake going into the Variante Bassa chicane at one point. I lost all the track positions that I gained in the first few corners and that changed my race completely. I feel that if I did not lose those I would have had something extra to – maybe not win the race – but for sure to go with Chaz. I got stuck behind some traffic after that but when I went through I was able to keep a consistent rhythm. I was too far back from Chaz but today we halved the winning margin compared to yesterday. I raced with the new soft prototype front tyre and in these temperatures I think it was maybe too soft an option for our bike. But I am generally content to have increased our championship lead, take 40 points and get on the podium twice at what is probably not our strongest track right now. It has been a really positive weekend.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “We had a good start to the race and I knew this was one of the opportunities I would have. I had to make a good start and push hard early on. I knew the speed of Chaz was incredible and I knew Jonathan would have good speed as well. Finally, Jonathan and I were quite evenly matched on lap times. There were two areas of the track where I was not able to do my usual riding style and over a lap I was suffering with turning the bike. The lap times were not too bad. Chaz had another step again today but we were a big step in front of the other riders. We improved the bike set-up from yesterday a little bit, but third was probably our realistic maximum today. I am relatively happy with the Sunday race but it was just the first race this weekend that let us down a bit.”
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Lowes Secures Sixth, van der Mark Ninth in Challenging Imola Race 2
race2
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team’s Alex Lowes put in maximum effort in front of the packed grandstands at Imola on Sunday to secure a top six finish at round five of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship. In a re-started 18 lap race, due to an earlier red flag, his teammate Michael van der Mark also worked to the limit to cross the line in ninth and claim another top ten finish on his Yamaha YZF-R1.
The original race was red-flagged after just one lap; in the re-started 18-lap race Lowes was determined to make an impact. Starting from fifth on the grid the British rider lost a couple of places off the line but passed his teammate for 7th into the first corner. From there, he started to hunt down the riders in front of him and when Leon Camier crashed out of the race, he took over sixth place. He then took advantage of an off track-excursion by Marco Melandri to move up to fifth, but in his effort to catch Xavi Forés in fourth he too ran off track on lap 5 at turn 13, re-joining behind his teammate in seventh.
The two Yamaha riders then enjoyed a great scrap for sixth, with Lowes making a move on lap 10 to re-take the position. The 26-year-old then pushed as hard as he could to catch the riders in front and opened up a gap between himself and his teammate. After a valiant effort, he crossed the line in sixth to pick up 10 championship points, which sees him retain fifth place in the standings with 94 points.
His teammate van der Mark started from 4th on the grid but lost out off the line and found himself in seventh by the first corner. After the early race battle with Lowes for sixth, he became involved in a scrap for seventh with Eugene Laverty in the latter stages. The Dutch rider had made a few changes to his R1 in an effort to close the gap to the guys at the front, but unfortunately it didn’t quite pay off as he struggled to find his normal consistent rhythm and Laverty passed the 23-year-old on lap 12.
Fighting as hard as he could van der Mark rode strongly towards the end of the race, but lost out in the last few corners to Jordi Torres, crossing the line in 9th, less than two-tenths behind the Spaniard. In the process, he collected 7 points and now sits seventh in the championship standings with 78 points.
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team now head for their home round at Donington Park on the 26-28th of May.
Alex Lowes
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
“It was a tough race. Obviously, the guys have worked really hard this weekend; it is so easy to look back on a weekend in hindsight and say we could have done this, we could have done that. At Imola we just couldn’t find the performance we needed from the bike, the guys never stopped trying and in the race sixth place was all we could manage. It was a tough race for me, but the least my team deserve is for me to give everything I’ve got until the end. We could only finish sixth, I am reasonably happy as it was the best I could do with what we had, but I am not happy because we were too far from the front. We will try and learn some things from the weekend, and we will be pushing hard at the next round at Donington, which is my home race. I am really looking forward to it.”
Michael van der Mark
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
“We struggled quite a lot during the race. This morning I thought we had made a big step forward in Warm Up, but in the race, it didn’t really work out. It was a tough race and it was difficult to be consistent. We knew that it would be difficult, but I was hoping we had made a big step forward. We must be happy with the points and up next is Donington, which will suit the bike better. It is a nice track to ride, so hopefully we can continue the form we had before Imola. We will never stop working to improve, so I am really looking forward to Donington.”
Paul Denning
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Principal
“Imola has been a tough circuit for us to master. Everybody involved has tried to improve the performance but at this particular circuit, despite all those efforts, it has been tough to move forward. Sixth position today for Alex was honestly the best we could hope for. He made a small mistake while pushing hard to stay with Forés and Melandri, which is completely forgivable, but recovered really well and rode consistently, and safely, to maximise his points haul. That’s all we can ask for. We tried to move Michael’s performance forward today with adjustments to the chassis setting and by changing the front tyre specification, but ultimately, over race distance it wasn’t a step in the right direction. It was worth taking the risk based on our potential yesterday and now we have more information to allow us to take the next steps. Donington is in two weeks’ time – it’s a circuit which, without any question, will suit the R1s chassis and engine character a lot better and we are really looking forward to getting back to where we know we can be at the team’s home race.”
More, from a press release issued by Althea BMW Racing:
Torres and Althea BMW make a fantastic recovery at Imola
Imola (Italy), Sunday 14 May 2017
The Imola World Superbike round concluded for the Althea BMW Racing team today; while Jordi Torres made a great recovery to finish in eighth place, Raffaele De Rosa closed in sixteenth place. In the Stock1000 category, Marco Faccani achieved fifth position in the race.
Superbike – Race 2 – After a crash for Badovini on lap one, the race was immediately interrupted with a red flag. Once the track was clean, a restart took place with the original grid line-up. Torres was forced to start from last position, having missed yesterday’s qualifying sessions due to a nasty bout of gastroenteritis. From there, the Spaniard quickly began to work his way up through the field, placing twelfth already on lap five. De Rosa too was able to get away well from 16th, following his team-mate to place right behind him, thirteenth in the opening stages. Torres pushed all the way to the line, passing several more riders in the second half of the race to cross the line eighth. Losing a little ground in the latter stages of the race, De Rosa concluded in 16th place.
STK1000 – Race – here too, the race was interrupted by a red flag, twice, after crashes for a number of riders. After a quick restart, Faccani, still sixth on the grid, maintained that position through the opening laps. Oscillating between fifth and sixth place, the Italian battled with other riders in the second group, to cross the line in final fifth position.
With five championship rounds already behind them, Torres lies eighth in the standings with 65 points while De Rosa has 5 points, to position 19th. In the Stock1000 category, after three rounds, Faccani is fifth with 22 points.
Jordi Torres:
“We had a good race today, fortunately I’ve recovered after yesterday’s illness and that didn’t affect me at all during the race. Starting last on the grid, it wasn’t easy of course, but I was able to quickly get into a good rhythm. I hoped to be able to do a little more actually but in these conditions with the tyre that we use it was the best I could do. I thank the team, the result is good considering we lost the whole day yesterday and then I want to thank the Clinica Mobile, because without their help I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today.”
Raffaele De Rosa:
“I tried to race with another tyre today but despite this, the bike still moves around a lot – I’ve realised that the Superbike is like this, it’s different to the Stock that I was used to and I have to learn to live with this characteristic. I have to try and be quicker while adopting the kind of style that the bike needs, and I hope to learn quickly. The result isn’t the best today but I hope to be able to improve with each race we complete…”
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team does the double in Race 2 at Imola with Chaz Davies, Marco Melandri is 5th
After winning Race 1 in a dominant fashion, Chaz Davies did the double at Imola (Italy), granting the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team its fourth success in a row at its “home race” in the WorldSBK Championship. The Welshman, who took pole position on Saturday, had to work his way up the field from ninth position today, based on the new grid regulations for Race 2.
Getting quickly off the blocks at the re-start – the red flags interrupted the race after only two laps – Davies took sixth position and progressively climbed his way up the ranks, closing the gap from provisional leader Sykes. The Welshman then took the lead on lap 8, and eventually pulled away to win with a four-second advantage on his rivals.
Melandri, on the other hand, struggled more than expected after finishing in third position yesterday. Despite a strong start that put him in third place, the Italian experienced some difficulties that forced him to lose contact with the leading group. Despite putting in a strong effort, as usual, Melandri finished in fifth position.
After five rounds, Davies (161 points) and Melandri (124 points) are respectively second and fourth in the championship. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will resume action for the sixth round of the 2017 WorldSBK Championship, scheduled for May 26-28 at Donington (U.K.).
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1st
“What a weekend! For the first time this year, I feel we’ve been the benchmark from the beginning. We were able to find our rhythm on Friday, and it sort of snowballed from there. The team has done an awesome job, the bike worked superbly in both races, in different conditions, but today it was quite interesting. We got mixed up at the first start, but after the re-start we got a good launch and I was able to make some good moves that put us in a good position. Sykes’ pace was strong, so I had to put my head down to hunt him and, once I caught him, I was able to set my own pace and that was good enough. Thanks to all the Italian fans for showing up this weekend, their push was something special.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 5th
“It was a difficult day for us, and we can’t be happy with the result because it’s not representative of our potential. Yesterday we managed to step on the podium, but we already had some issues under acceleration and unfortunately we weren’t able to solve them. The rear kept losing contact with the ground while upshifting, and this penalized us a lot coming out of slow corners. Also, I didn’t have enough confidence with the front to try and pass Forés. Still, I wanted to thank all the fans for their support, it was incredible and it made me really proud to represent the Italian flag on an Italian bike. We’ll bounce back at Donington.”
Ernesto Marinelli, Superbike Project Director
“Once again, Imola coincided with a really emotional weekend. Chaz rode two flawless races, and we dedicate the wins to all the ducatisti who flooded the circuit and showed their passion, and also to all the boys at home who allowed Chaz and the team to finalize the job. To win at Imola is incredibile. Unfortunately, some setup issues prevented Marco from stepping on the podium again in Race 2, but the work never stops and we’re confident the results will come soon for him as well.”
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:
Italian round comes to a close for Hayden and Bradl after second WorldSBK race
Italian Round
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Italy
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has completed the fifth WorldSBK round of the year by taking part in the second race of the weekend at Imola’s ‘Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari’. After a restart, Nicky Hayden crossed the line 12th, two places ahead of his team mate Stefan Bradl.
The race came to an early stop on the second lap due to a technical problem – with subsequent oil spill – that occurred to Badovini’s bike, which led to a red flag. The new 18-lap encounter got underway after all track-cleaning procedures were completed, with Bradl getting a great launch off the grid to enter turn two in 11th position just ahead of Hayden. The 27-year-old German rider then lost eight places, after missing the last chicane, at the end of the opening lap.
Meanwhile, Hayden found himself in the middle of a group of seven riders battling for sixth place: on lap seven, he set his personal quickest lap of the race while doing his utmost to stay in touch with the riders ahead. In the final third of the encounter, the experienced American rider dropped down to twelfth but maintained his position to the chequered flag.
Bradl went from 19th to claim a 14th place finish, despite pressure coming from De Rosa and Krummenacher in the closing stages.
The next round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at Donington Park in the UK in two weekends.
Nicky Hayden 69
12th
My second start to the race was not as great as the first one, but I still managed to move up a couple of places. I was able to stay in the group fighting for sixth place for the majority of the race and I was running better than at any time over the weekend, but unfortunately towards the end I lost a balance weight off the wheel which caused a vibration. I couldn’t keep the pace, otherwise I could have been a bit closer. It’s been quite a hard weekend for us, but it’s behind us now now and hopefully we will get back in the right direction at Donington Park.
Stefan Bradl 6
14th
Things didn’t go as well as yesterday, unfortunately. I had a bit of a problem with gear shifting and it was harder to get the ratios in, so I was focused on it more than I would normally be and everything got a bit complicated. This week was not easy for a number of reasons and luck was certainly on our side. But we now have to look forward and prepare for the next round.
Pieter Breddels
Nicky was quite competitive in the first two thirds of the race and managed to stay in the group battling for sixth, before having to slow down a little. It was a pity, really, because he was doing quite well and looked like he could stay in the mix for a top-6 finish. We’re now investigating on what happened. Stefan, unfortunately, had an issue with shifting, which led to him missing the chicane and did not allow him to keep up a good pace throughout the race. He did a great job because he held on and finished the race with a couple of points, though.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Davies stuns in Italian sun to take stunning victory
Welshman grabs win from ninth on the grid, whilst Kawasaki lock out 2nd and 3rd
At the Motul Italian Round on Sunday it was Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider Chaz Davies who took a superb victory in front of the fans at Imola, with the podium also featuring Kawasaki Racing Team pair Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.
In a restarted race – after a red flag in the first Race 2 start earlier in the afternoon – Davies produced a superb ride on the Ducati, overtaking provisional leader Sykes midrace and going on to win by just under four seconds from Rea.
Davies’ first double victory of 2017 was a repeat of his Imola result from 2016, the Ducati man having also picked up maximum points at the Italian track last year.
Sykes had led the race but was eventually unable to hold off his teammate Rea for second, as the Northern Irishman ultimately beat the Yorkshirman across the line by +0.603s.
Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) and home rider Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) were engaged in a close fight for fourth, with Spaniard Fores finally coming out on top in that duel by less than two tenths of a second.
Behind that pair Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) crossed the line in sixth place for more good points, with Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) close by in seventh. It was a solid result for Laverty after a difficult day for him on Saturday, with his big crash in Race 1.
Likewise an excellent performance by Jordi Torres saw the Althea BMW Racing Team man finish in eighth place having got away from the back of the grid, after he missed Superpole and Race 1 on Saturday due to illness.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) completed the top ten, Mercado making amends for his Race 1 DNF.
There was disappointment for Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who crashed out of second place early on having made a superb start, with Alex De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project) also crashing shortly after the Englishman. Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was another crasher and Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was forced to retire due to a technical issue.
The initial staging of the race had earlier ended in a red flag due to track conditions at turn 16, following an issue for Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) which had left oil on track.
The WorldSBK riders will be back in action over the 26th-28th May weekend at the UK’s Donington Park circuit.
P1 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It’s been working like a dream, the bike has been in the ballpark, I made a few rebalances and used a different tyre to what I would normally use. The thing has been on rails, towards the end of the race the gap was going up and I was able to control it quite comfortably and what can I say. It’s difficult to put weekends like this into perspective.”
P2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“Really good weekend for me, there was no stopping Chaz. We pretty much halved the gap to the front but I made a change to the front tyre, and I didn’t feel really comfortable with it, it was a bit squishy but I did my best, I had fun and 40 points from Imola is a good result so I’m happy.”
P3 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“What can I say, we’ve always been missing that last little bit and this weekend we were really good until the racing. The track temperature today was a bit hotter and a bit greasy so I was really struggling with the front in some areas. I feel I got to the limit of what I am capable of and we need to build on this. It was a close race between the Kawasaki’s all race, it’s great here in front of the fans in Italy. It would have been great to have a better result but we tried.”
More, from a press release issued by MV Agusta:
CAMIER CRASHED WHEN HE WAS 2ND IN RACE2 AT IMOLA, WHILE PJ JACOBSEN GET ANOTHER PODIUM IN WORLDSSP AND ZACCONE WINS THE ESS RACE
The WorldSBK race weekend at Imola ends with a very bad luck for Leon Camier, who suffered a crash while he was in 2nd position of Race2. In WorldSSP Patrick Jacobsen completes the excellent race weekend with a podium in the afternoon race, while Alessandro Zaccone got the victory in the ESS class, by arriving 10° in overall chart.
WorldSBK – WarmUp, Race2
In the early morning Warmup, Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse mechanics made some changes to the Camier’s bike setting, looking for a stronger grip on the Schiranna’s F4 RC machine. The results have repaid for this job, considering Camier set the 4th position in the Warmup with a 1’47.246 lap time, less than 0.5s far from the podium.
Race2 was interrupted for red-flag because some oil on track due to a crash after only one lap. At the new start Camier is very fast and takes the 2nd place, focusing on getting close to the race leader Tom Sykes. Unfortunately, Leon lost the front of the bike during lap 3 when he was approaching the Acqua Minerali turn, giving up from a Top5 final position race.
WorldSSP – Warmup, Race
The WorldSSP race, which started with several minutes of delay due to the crash of Badovini in the warmup lap, was subsequently declared red flag for another two times, always due to crashes on track during the first lap; definitely a bad luck for the rider, like the MV Agusta Reparto Corse ones, that chose the softer tire.
The race will restart after the WorldSBK Race2, with Patrick Jacobsen starting from the pole position and closing in 3rd place, getting a pole and a podium in the first home race for his squad.
Alessandro Zaccone closes in 10th place in WorldSSP (1st in the ESS class) despite a strong pain at his shoulder caused by a crash during the qualifying session.
Leon Camier #2 WorldSBK – It is of course a big, big disappointment. My pace was fast and my bike’s setting from the warmup was really good. We made some little change to fit the bike to the race conditions and I felt the setting was absolutely good, so I tried to push hard and hold my second position but then I crashed and it was over. I want stay positive because we showed a really good pace this weekend and I look forward to the next race in Donington.
Patrick “PJ” Jacobsen #99 WorldSS – I am honestly really happy for this result, especially considering today it was a difficult race and the pace was really fast. The guys did an impressive job with the bike and I can’t thank my team enough, it has been amazing get a podium here in Imola, in the MV Agusta’s home track. Now let’s move on to Donington and try to get another podium.
Alessandro Zaccone #61 ESS – All in all I am very happy about this 10th place in the WorldSSP championship, both because it is the best seasonal result so far and, above all, considering the difficult physical conditions in which I ran today. The shoulder problem strongly affected me throughout the race and if it was not for the pain, I’m sure I could do much better, because the bike here was really fast.